Transcriptome and proteome profile of jejunum in chickens challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium revealed the effects of dietary bilberry anthocyanin on immune function

Sheng Zhang; Qin Wang; Jinling Ye; Qiuli Fan; Xiajing Lin; Zhongyong Gou; Mahmoud M Azzam; Yibing Wang; Shouqun Jiang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1266977

Transcriptome and proteome profile of jejunum in chickens challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium revealed the effects of dietary bilberry anthocyanin on immune function

Front Microbiol. 2023 Nov 20:14:1266977. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1266977. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Sheng Zhang¹, Qin Wang¹, Jinling Ye¹, Qiuli Fan¹, Xiajing Lin¹, Zhongyong Gou¹, Mahmoud M Azzam², Yibing Wang¹, Shouqun Jiang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding, Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South China, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
² Department of Animal Production College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Introduction: The present study investigated the effects of bilberry anthocyanin (BA) on immune function when alleviating Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) infection in chickens.

Methods: A total of 180 newly hatched yellow-feathered male chicks were assigned to three groups (CON, SI, and SI + BA). Birds in CON and SI were fed a basal diet, and those in SI + BA were supplemented with 100 mg/kg BA for 18 days. Birds in SI and SI + BA received 0.5 ml suspension of S. Typhimurium (2 × 10⁹ CFU/ml) by oral gavage at 14 and 16 days of age, and those in CON received equal volumes of sterile PBS.

Results: At day 18, (1) dietary BA alleviated weight loss of chickens caused by S. Typhimurium infection (P < 0.01). (2) Supplementation with BA reduced the relative weight of the bursa of Fabricius (P < 0.01) and jejunal villus height (P < 0.05) and increased the number of goblet cells (P < 0.01) and the expression of MUC2 (P < 0.05) in jejunal mucosa, compared with birds in SI. (3) Supplementation with BA decreased (P < 0.05) the concentration of immunoglobulins and cytokines in plasma (IgA, IL-1β, IL-8, and IFN-β) and jejunal mucosa (IgG, IgM, sIgA, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, IFN-β, and IFN-γ) of S. Typhimurium-infected chickens. (4) BA regulated a variety of biological processes, especially the defense response to bacteria and humoral immune response, and suppressed cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and intestinal immune network for IgA production pathways by downregulating 6 immune-related proteins.

Conclusion: In summary, the impaired growth performance and disruption of jejunal morphology caused by S. Typhimurium were alleviated by dietary BA by affecting the expression of immune-related genes and proteins, and signaling pathways are related to immune response associated with immune cytokine receptors and production in jejunum.

Keywords: Salmonella Typhimurium; bilberry anthocyanin; immune status; proteome; transcriptome; yellow-feathered chicks.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation from Guangdong Province (2021A1515010830), China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (CARS-41), the National Key R&D Project (2021YFD1300404), the Key Realm R&D Program of Guangdong Province (2020B0202090004), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31802104), the Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (202106TD and R2019PY-QF008), Introduction of Talents Program from Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (R2021YJ-YB3012), and Guiding Agreement of Young Scholar from Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (R2021QD-024), P. R. China. The acknowledgment was extended to the Researchers Supporting Project (RSPD2023R731), King Saud University (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).